Regional 'cost of living' as some sort of basis of radjustment is mostly crap. The reason it costs of a ton of money to live in New York is that living in New York is a 'good' which is in very high demand. Living here is a form of consumption. We don't subsidize consumption, and we don't pity people for consuming.

quite frankly, the vietnamese have mastered the sandwich. with a vibrant cuilinary background, molested by the french at just the right age, you have yourself the perfect, most balanced sandwich on earth... and it's on good bread too.

fatty pork, excellent pickles, and... good bread and cilantro. not sure where this sandwich could be wanting.

Of course the article is really saying that "If you're wealthy, living in New York is Cheaper for the stuff you're going to buy anyhow" So gourmet grocery stores are cheaper in NY than NOLA or San Diego. Which makes sense - NY has SO MANY wealthy people that their providers can achieve an economy of scale, and the market is large enough to accommodate multiple competing vendors. Both of these factors drive down prices ... on 4$ gourmet cookies and 400$ shoes.

This is very different than saying "They stuff that everyone needs is plentiful and cheap", and I suspect that part of this issue is that with freight cost carrying both expensive small goods and large 'cheap' goods, the small goods can afford to pay a higher freight cost. Additionally, Providing cheap goods has less margin, so new vendors probably want to jump in at the price point where there enough traffic to provide a healthy margin. It's like new apartments : Nobody builds 500$ bedsits. They all build 2500$ luxury apartments.

James!:sigdiamond2000: James!: I spent 23 dollars on Vietnamese food the other day, had it delivered to my apartment after 11 at night and had enough for lunch the next day.

Uhhhh...ummmm...HISPTER!!11

Look at this motherfarker:[tomjinadventures.files.wordpress.com image 660x327]

There's three kinds of pork in that motherfarker. DID YOU OBSERVE THOSE WORDS?

THREE KINDS OF PORK!

And at Bahn Mi Saigon, only about $4.50. I have found that stuff like sushi, imported cheese and the like is cheaper here. Not to mention places like Century 21, where high end clothing is less than half price.

quite frankly, the vietnamese have mastered the sandwich. with a vibrant cuilinary background, molested by the french at just the right age, you have yourself the perfect, most balanced sandwich on earth... and it's on good bread too.

fatty pork, excellent pickles, and... good bread and cilantro. not sure where this sandwich could be wanting.

I live in south Georgia, I pay 500 bucks a month for a 1000 square-foot apartment. In return for my tiny rent, I get to live in a town with no bar, no nightlife, no restaurant variety, and no culture.

When I got my job offer here I thought the pay was pretty lousy, 10% under national average for new hires in my field. Then I looked up cost of living in the area and realized why it was that low.

The way I look at living in a place like New York, Chicago, Boston, or San Francisco (among others) is that despite the high cost of living, at least theres things to do, places to go, and interesting things to eat.

Of course the article is really saying that "If you're wealthy, living in New York is Cheaper for the stuff you're going to buy anyhow" So gourmet grocery stores are cheaper in NY than NOLA or San Diego. Which makes sense - NY has SO MANY wealthy people that their providers can achieve an economy of scale, and the market is large enough to accommodate multiple competing vendors. Both of these factors drive down prices ... on 4$ gourmet cookies and 400$ shoes.

This is very different than saying "They stuff that everyone needs is plentiful and cheap", and I suspect that part of this issue is that with freight cost carrying both expensive small goods and large 'cheap' goods, the small goods can afford to pay a higher freight cost. Additionally, Providing cheap goods has less margin, so new vendors probably want to jump in at the price point where there enough traffic to provide a healthy margin. It's like new apartments : Nobody builds 500$ bedsits. They all build 2500$ luxury apartments.

The vendors also sell more expensive goods because space is expensive for them also. For example, small grocery items like imported cheese can be cheaper than in the suburbs, but a 2 liter bottle of Coke runs about $2.50 in most grocery stores (there are sales though). Coke takes more space so the "rent" for that space is more than it is with small items that cost more per unit. 48oz of ice cream is $7-9 regular price, Ben N Jerry's is about $5-7, etc.

Ethertap:I live in south Georgia, I pay 500 bucks a month for a 1000 square-foot apartment. In return for my tiny rent, I get to live in a town with no bar, no nightlife, no restaurant variety, and no culture.

When I got my job offer here I thought the pay was pretty lousy, 10% under national average for new hires in my field. Then I looked up cost of living in the area and realized why it was that low.

The way I look at living in a place like New York, Chicago, Boston, or San Francisco (among others) is that despite the high cost of living, at least theres things to do, places to go, and interesting things to eat.

If you can't get laid in a town with nothing to do, you're doing it wrong.

True. Some but not enough. I live 20 miles from work. I have a slightly gas inefficient pair of cars. Monthly gas and insurance is around $250. Additional miscellaneous maintenance and registration for a year is around $200. Even if it was a $1700 studio, you're still paying $1700 for a studio. If you're the kind of person who is out all the time and only uses their home to sleep, then I can understand something like that. Personally, I'd rather have a house for that kind of cash. Studios around me go for $500-800/month depending on location and quality.

NYC is too much concrete jungle for me and too many people, but I get why people like it. Here in NoVA, we have good jobs, relatively high cost of living (but nowhere near NYC) and a very good mix of cultural stuff with all the museums, restaurants, sports, bars, etc. And I have a house with a yard inside the beltway and it didn't put me in the poorhouse. In conclusion and furthermore

Living in NYC is about the only way that I can plausibly pay down my student loans. Both my salary and my expenses are twice as high as they would be for the same job/lifestyle in Pittsburgh, and that means the difference between the two is twice as high. It's actually quite possible to live cheaply in NYC if your intent is financial freedom rather than getting the "experience".

\ $600 for an Upper West Side appartment.\\ ok, it's w. 144th street.\\\ with 2 other roommates.

Ethertap:I live in south Georgia, I pay 500 bucks a month for a 1000 square-foot apartment. In return for my tiny rent, I get to live in a town with no bar, no nightlife, no restaurant variety, and no culture.

When I got my job offer here I thought the pay was pretty lousy, 10% under national average for new hires in my field. Then I looked up cost of living in the area and realized why it was that low.

The way I look at living in a place like New York, Chicago, Boston, or San Francisco (among others) is that despite the high cost of living, at least theres things to do, places to go, and interesting things to eat.

That's a healthy way to look at it- South Georgia has it's virtues as well. It probably is pretty stable, the people are nice, and the "family values" (the good kind, not the Republican kind) are pretty strong.

For me, the most important virtue of NYC is the people I meet. I've met people from all over the Earth, from all backgrounds, educational level from high school drop out to Rhodes Scholars, income from welfare recipients to people that make tens of millions every year. You're not going to get that kind of mix anywhere else. That isn't important to many and that's fine, but it's important to me and what makes it worth the money.

I'm tired of a lot of these posts (not yours) saying "I pay $200/month for 60 acres and a 27-bedroom house hurrrrrr" because they miss the point. NYC fits me, where other people live fits them. I could no longer live in South Georgia than many people can live in NYC. And that's fine.

sigdiamond2000:James!: I really doubt that most rural farkers live on vast tracts of land like they claim. Most people live in tract housing out in the boonies and spend most of their day commuting.

Typical clueless big city elitist. They don't spend most of their day commuting. They're housebound unemployable deadbeats.

I'm sorry, yes. They spend most of their day waiting for the fire department to cut a hole in the wall and remove them via fork lift so they can be deposited in their check-out cage at the Super Walmart.

Came from the woods of NY (town of mouth breathers, nearest Taco Bell is in Canada), pay 1600/mo for a three bedroom with a backyard (not much of one, but I can grill) AND a parking space. City life can be done right if you don't have to live in Brooklyn with the fixed gear crowd.

I worked in Mid-Town for 5 years, and I found NY to be very reasonable in terms of cost. Of course, I was there every other week and my company put me in one of their "condos" at the Waldorf Astoria. And naturally I had an expense account so I rarely paid for any of those $400 bar tabs or $900 client dinners. So what's the problem?

Molavian:Ethertap: I live in south Georgia, I pay 500 bucks a month for a 1000 square-foot apartment. In return for my tiny rent, I get to live in a town with no bar, no nightlife, no restaurant variety, and no culture.

When I got my job offer here I thought the pay was pretty lousy, 10% under national average for new hires in my field. Then I looked up cost of living in the area and realized why it was that low.

The way I look at living in a place like New York, Chicago, Boston, or San Francisco (among others) is that despite the high cost of living, at least theres things to do, places to go, and interesting things to eat.

If you can't get laid in a town with nothing to do, you're doing it wrong.

Yes....but in towns like that, the question is...."laid...by *what*?!?"